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Ches Smith: Interpret It Well
by Mike Jurkovic
A short list of the fellow travelers who New York drummer, vibraphonist & percussionist Ches Smith has journeyed alongside—Tim Berne, Kris Davis, John Zorn, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, David Torn—should give a hint to the many places he went with his latest experiment Interpret It Well. On this second go round with pianist & keyboardist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri—their first was 2016's still vibrating, The Bell (ECM)—Smith deputizes the ubiquitous musings of guitarist Bill Frisell. Then, ...
Continue ReadingChes Smith: Interpret It Well
by Karl Ackermann
Ches Smith's extraordinary Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic Records, 2021) was a breakout recording that placed the drummer/composer at the top of many year-end lists. His sophomore outing on Kris Davis' label bears little similarity to his Pyroclastic debut beyond the artist's knack for discovering unexplored terrain. Interpret It Well reunites the trio of pianist Craig Taborn, violist Mat Maneri, and Smith (The Bell (ECM, 2016)) and adds guitarist Bill Frisell. With these master improvisers in place, Smith ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Never Ending Revelations
by Ian Patterson
Touchstone Albums Picks is a new column from All About Jazz that invites artists to talk about the albums that have moved and inspired them and perhaps in some way informed their own music. In celebration of the publication of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer (Faber & Faber, 2022), Irish journalist Philip Watson's definitive biography of the Denver guitarist, AAJ invited Bill Frisell to kick off the series. What follows is an extract, largely unedited, of a conversation where ...
Continue ReadingChes Smith: Interpret It Well
by Troy Dostert
Ches Smith is a drummer who can make an immediate impact in a number of ways. His work as a sideman with everyone from John Zorn to Ben Goldberg to Tim Berne is ample evidence of his rhythmic range. But his own projects are just as inventive, from the punkish mania of Hammered (Clean Feed, 2013) to the re-imagined Haitian Voudou on 2021's Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic). If there is a common thread, it is probably found in Smith's ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell As Leader: A Beginner's Guide
by Ian Patterson
To celebrate the publication of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer (Faber & Faber, 2022), Irish journalist Philip Watson's definitive biography of the Denver guitarist, All About Jazz presents this beginner's guide to Frisell's discography as leader. Half a dozen other albums could easily have made the list, but these selections attempt primarily to highlight the range of Frisell's music and his evolution as both a guitarist and a composer. Bill Frisell's debut as leader, In Line, (ECM, 1983) was ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer
by AAJ Staff
The following is a revised excerpt from “Chapter 20: Frislandia" of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer by Philip Watson (Faber & Faber, 2022). Bill Frisell's music has always, right from the beginning, raised critical questions about definition and classification, about the very nature of genre. What is it that Frisell is playing, and how might we begin to describe it? The most common descriptor, of course, is that Frisell is a jazz guitarist. 'I don't know ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer
by Ian Patterson
Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer Philip Watson 560 Pages ISBN: 978-0571361663 Faber & Faber 2022 The great guitar anti-hero Bill Frisell has dreamt of perfect music--an otherworldly blend of unimaginably beautiful sounds. It may be a just a dream, but that hasn't stopped the Denver-raised musician from constantly searching, for striving for this ideal. And on an inspired night he can get close...for a while. For Frisell it is the journey, as this, the ...
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